PragerU

What is mankind’s greatest pursuit? In the world premiere of The Book Club, Michael Knowles and Dennis Prager take you through psychiatrist Viktor Frankl’s moving memoir of life in a Nazi death camp, and how this experience shaped his thinking. Man’s Search for Meaning explores human suffering, hope, and the pursuit of purpose in one of the darkest moments in history. Don’t miss it!

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is the greatest play ever written. In this episode of The Book Club, Michael Knowles and Andrew Klavan discuss the themes of this classic work — inaction, appearance versus reality, doubt and truth — and how they mirror modern society. Pick up a copy and join us for this impactful episode.

Pride and Prejudice is one of the most famous and most beloved romantic novels of all time. In this episode of The Book Club, Michael Knowles and Abigail Shrier explore the themes of love, virtue, and social hierarchy discovered in the pages of Jane Austen’s classic work. Tune in!

Thinkers from Karl Marx to Noam Chomsky have shaped political thought and transformed societies. In this episode of The Book Club, Michael Knowles and PragerU’s executive director, Allen Estrin, discuss Intellectuals by Paul Johnson and how the book highlights both the brilliance and dangers of intellectuals’ impact on humanity.

Do you understand the Constitution? What makes America different? Ben Shapiro joins Michael Knowles to discuss The Federalist Papers, a collection of essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. They discuss the founders’ vision for a limited government that protects the God-given rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

How do you find meaning in a world filled with cruelty? Michael Knowles and Larry Elder discuss the universal search for unconditional love as seen in the pages of W. Somerset Maugham’s fictional novel, Of Human Bondage.

George Orwell’s novel, 1984, portrays a dystopian world where Big Brother reigns supreme. Today, however, Orwell’s warning against totalitarianism reads more like a newspaper than a work of fiction. Dave Rubin, host of The Rubin Report, joins Michael Knowles to dissect the pages of this classic work.

Sen. Ted Cruz joins Michael Knowles this month for a very special episode of The Book Club! They discuss Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel Brave New World and why it is an indictment of tyranny and totalitarianism. Don’t miss it.

What is the key to racial reconciliation in our nation? Dr. Carol Swain joins Michael Knowles on this month’s episode of The Book Club to examine the life of Booker T. Washington, a former slave turned educator, as seen through the lens of his autobiography Up From Slavery.

A man who has nothing left to lose is led through hell, purgatory, and heaven in this incomparable masterpiece. Dante scholar Catherine Illingworth joins Michael Knowles to discuss his favorite work of art ever composed: Dante’s Divine Comedy.

Love is an innate desire of every human being, but how do you define it and what is its purpose in relationships? Michael Knowles and Spencer Klavan take you through one of the most collective philosophical texts on love in Western literature: Plato’s The Symposium.

Biblical illiteracy is at an all-time high. Many Americans believe the Bible is archaic, even irrelevant to the changing culture. In this episode, Bishop Robert Barron and Michael Knowles take you through Genesis, the first book of the Bible, to uncover foundational truths about mankind and human civilization.

Galileo proved that the Earth revolved around the sun and was punished for challenging existing scientific theory. Are we seeing parallels today? Brian Keating and Michael Knowles discuss Galileo’s The Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems and how modern scientists still face vilification if they challenge the ideological narrative.

Is a life of duty and self-sacrifice noble or ridiculous? What can 21st-century readers take away from Middlemarch, A Study of Provincial Life, one of the great English novels? Heather Mac Donald joins Michael Knowles for a discussion of George Eliot’s comprehensive tale of marriage, idealism, loyalty, and profligacy in a nineteenth-century English town.

Broken families are detrimental to society— it’s been proven throughout history. Douglas Murray and Michael Knowles summarize William Shakespeare’s tragedy, King Lear, and its themes of power, justice, blindness, and chaos played out through the severed relationship between a father and his children.

Leo Tolstoy’s novella speaks volumes on mortality, conformity, societal expectations, and what it means to live an authentic life. Ivan Ilyich suffers on his deathbed until he is able to fully confront his mortality. This same denial of death and the anguish it causes can be seen in our culture today, brought into focus by the events of 2020. Matt Walsh, host of The Matt Walsh Show, sits down with Michael Knowles to work through Tolstoy’s masterpiece of fiction.

The first science fiction novel ever written (over 200 years ago), Frankenstein is a tragic and cautionary tale about failed humanity, the dangers of scientific knowledge, an overreaching scientist playing “God,” and the universal desire for a sense of belonging. Enjoy this discussion of a gothic classic with Michael Knowles and Gina Bontempo!

What if you could listen in on a conversation between two devils? C.S. Lewis’s "The Screwtape Letters" takes you through letters between Screwtape, a high-ranking demon in the underworld, and his inexperienced nephew, Wormwood, and their plan to deceive man into sin and ultimately hell. Michael Knowles and Seth Dillon of The Babylon Bee discuss Lewis’s satirical masterpiece on this episode.

On this episode of The Book Club, Michael Knowles and Farah Jimenez discuss Race and Culture, Thomas Sowell’s powerful analysis on why culture has a profound impact on the socioeconomic outcomes of different minority groups. Is systemic racism really to blame?

Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, named by readers in 1991 as the most influential book after the Bible, is a novelized warning about the allure and evils of socialism. What happens when the most productive members in society give up? How much can be asked of them before they do? Who is left to support the rest? Michael Knowles and Eric Daniels take you through Rand’s prophetic masterpiece.

George Orwell and Aldous Huxley warned of the evils of communism in the pages of 1984 and Brave New World; however, Arthur Koestler’s Darkness at Noon is a lesser-known but impactful novel that describes the horrors of the Stalinist USSR. Michael Knowles and Brad Thompson take you through this powerful literary work.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë is one of the most beloved books in literature. In this episode of The Book Club, Michael Knowles and Madeleine Kearns take you through the pages of the Victorian novel to examine the themes of love versus independence, social class and structure, religion, and gender roles.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” Is history repeating itself? Set during the French Revolution, Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities offers parallels to American Society today. PragerU’s Allen Estrin joins Michael Knowles on this episode of The Book Club to explore the novel’s stark contrasts of fate vs. free will, tyranny and excess, and life and death.